Grimes hit on immigration, from left

Two liberal advocacy groups are calling on Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes to stop running an immigration ad that tries to hit Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell from the right on “amnesty.”

The ad digs up McConnell votes from the legalization program under President Ronald Reagan in an attempt to paint the top Senate Republican as weak on immigration — when Grimes herself has been under attack for the same charge.

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“Only Mitch McConnell has voted to give amnesty and taxpayer-funded benefits to 3 million illegal aliens, the largest legalization program in U.S. history,” a narrator says in the ad. Grimes, who appears at the end of the 30-second spot, boasts: “I’ve never supported amnesty or benefits for illegal immigrants, and I never will.”

Ilya Sheyman, the executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action, said in a statement Tuesday that the ad was “deeply upsetting.”

“MoveOn members in Kentucky and across the country are contacting millions of voters to help prevent a Republican takeover of the Senate, and it makes that important work harder when Democrats embrace inflammatory Republican rhetoric,” Sheyman said. “It’s deeply troubling that Grimes would stoop this low in order to try to defeat McConnell, and she needs to take this offensive advertisement off the air immediately.”

Other immigration advocates quickly criticized the ad. Frank Sharry, the executive director of America’s Voice, said the commercial “smacks of desperation.”

“By trying to get to McConnell’s right, Grimes jeopardizes her attempts to define herself as a leader who will tackle tough problems with bipartisan solutions,” Sharry said. “Democrats should leave it to Republicans to be the anti-immigrant party that has fought tooth and nail to block an immigration reform proposal supported by a strong majority of American voters.”

Grimes has said she supports an “earned pathway to citizenship” along with securing the border. But conservative outside groups have hammered the Democrat for her positions on immigration, saying it, in essence, equals amnesty.

In a statement, Grimes campaign manager Jonathan Hurst didn’t address the liberal criticism of the ad.

“Alison favors comprehensive immigration reform. Neither the recent bill that passed the Senate nor any other serious bill currently supported by most Democrats and Republicans is amnesty,” Hurst said. “Mitch McConnell’s hypocrisy on this issue is breathtaking.”